New ZJ axles and suspension
 

Just bought a 1998 ZJ Limited with the 5.2. The guy that I bought it from said it has 4.56 gears, lockers and it is badged as quadra-trac. It has 35" AT tires installed.

So here are my questions:

It appears to have Dana 44s, are these stock for the model?

I see some references to aluminum Dana 44s, no idea what this is, what's the deal here? Does this apply to my jeep?

What gearing would be ideal for these axles to keep the 35" tires?

Assuming a complete rebuild is needed, what would be the best combination of parts (including lockers or not) to get this jeep up and running reliably?

I have worked on differentials before as a mechanic, but I never had to size or change components. I just replaced stock components and adjusted backlash and preload to manual specs.

Honestly I plan to completely rebuild the suspension, and fix the various fluid leaks. Do you guys see any items of concern in the pics below?


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...70fb9007d.jpeg

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First off.... let me say this is the current wish list, for my 98 ZJ Limited Quadratrac 5.2L!!!!!

How ever, I am not THE EXPERT you need on the finer details, diffs and shims, but from the pictures everything looks good.
My ZJ has a Factory Dana35 front, and Dana 44a rear. I dont know what gears. I have not opened the diffs yet.
NP249 Quadratrac Transfer Case : 4HI - N - 4LO

Aluminum D44 : Its just a D44 made from Aluminum cast. Less happy to smash rocks! If your only planning easy use, then these should be fine.

Just clean the diffs off and find the tag/casting number, and you will know.

A few simple searches on these forums/build threads and you can easily figure out, through others experiences, what gears will be best for your use.


BTW, where are the Jeep pics? All i see are the interesting, ugly bits.

lol. jk.

but really...

I will get the rest of the purdy pics up in a bit. But for the time being, more bad news. The rear diff is not noisy, it is toast. The seller told me that there were issues, and I did not want to drive it too much and make issues worse. Well it cant get much worse.

The bearing on the ring gear side is dust and the outer race spun in the journal. Being that it is aluminum, it is completely crap. It took out the opposite bearing and the lack of pre-load ate the ring gear and pinion.
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Turns out aluminum is a bad idea. Well now I am switching gears:

Recommendations for Ford 8.8 build threads?

The front is a dana 30 the rear is a dana 44a which is bigger then a normal 44,It uses dana 44hd diff and gears.The 8.8 swap takes some welding so if you need to drive it now you can junkyard another dana 44a which is v8 zjs 95 and newer.The 8.8 95 and newer ford explorer/mountaineer and has to be them a ranger will be shorter and not work.And you need the brackets to weld on it http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/10559.html and when your looking for a 8.8 try to find a 3.73 that should be whats in your zj but double check that.For the 35s you kinda want 4.56 or 4.88 gears if i remember right.